In this Jan. 1, 2014, file photo, Missouri senior defensive lineman Michael Sam speaks to the media during an NCAA college football news conference in Irving, Texas. Sam says he is gay, and he could become the first openly homosexual player in the NFL. (AP Photo/Brandon Wade, File)

Those were Michael Sam’s words to the New York Times yesterday as he told the world that he’s openly gay. By doing so, Sam put himself on a path to become the NFL’s first openly gay player and a pioneer for civil rights. If the NFL is a microcosm of society, the acceptance of Sam can go a long way toward promoting nationwide understanding and equality.

Of course, there will be challenges along the way, beginning with Sam’s quest to make an NFL roster. Just weeks before the NFL draft combine, Sam has much to gain by coming out now, but also stands to lose his grip on the dream to play in the NFL.

If the pulse of NFL decision-makers can be accurately measured by eight anonymous executives interviewed by SI.com’s Thayer Evans and Pete Thamel, Sam’s stock in the NFL draft might have fallen. The executives offered predictable responses about locker room culture and media distractions, saying they could “break a tie against” their respective teams picking Sam.

Anonymous remarks made to SI.com included this gem from a personnel man, which promises to be mocked by historians in the years to come.

"I don't think football is ready for [an openly gay player] just yet," said an NFL player personnel assistant. "In the coming decade or two, it's going to be acceptable, but at this point in time it's still a man's-man game. To call somebody a [gay slur] is still so commonplace. It'd chemically imbalance an NFL locker room and meeting room."

The problem is, there appears to be a disconnect between the theories of executives and the actual attitudes of prominent players. Early reactions showed respect and understanding, even from the least likely of places.

One day it won't be such a huge ordeal to state who you are as a person, that day will reveal true progression. Cheers to Day 1.

Sam came out to his teammates at the University of Missouri last summer, just weeks before the 2013 football season, and the result was a 12-2 record. Sam was an All-American defensive end and the Southeastern Conference’s defensive player of the year.

“Looking back, I take great pride in how Michael and everyone in our program handled his situation,” Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said in a statement. “This past August, Michael was very direct with the team when he decided to let everyone know that he is gay. We discussed how to deal with that from a public standpoint, and ultimately Michael decided that he didn’t want that to be the focal point of the season. He wanted to focus on football and not do anything to add pressure for him or for his teammates, and I think that’s a great example of the kind of person he is. We left it that whenever he felt the time was right, however he wanted to make the announcement, that we had his back and we’d be right there with him.

“We’re very proud of Michael and the courage he has displayed for coming out. We look forward to following his career, and the success he’s going to have.”

Concerns exist in NFL locker rooms, where the culture can be rugged and perceived as homophobic. Recent controversies surrounding the Miami Dolphins and former punter Chris Kluwe have fueled those fears.

But this was always going to happen. It needed to happen. We need to find out, once and for all, if this longstanding paranoia over how players will treat an openly gay teammate is real or overblown. Sam may be risking his professional livelihood to be that guinea pig. Hopefully, there's a team out there in need of a dynamic pass rusher that becomes too enamored with Sam's talent to let fear dictate its decision. Even better, perhaps an owner will embrace the opportunity for his franchise to serve as a model for acceptance.

But when the league's previous commissioner has an openly gay son, and the current commissioner has an openly gay brother, some cultural changes are inevitable.

Sam's disclosure is just one more in a series of steps toward a league without homophobia. And if you find this latest development shocking, well, you might have been watching the NFL, but you haven't been paying attention.

One of the men who helped pave the way for Sam’s announcement, former NFL linebacker Brendan Ayanbadejo, penned a column for FoxSports.com and said Sam should worry only about being a football player.

I told him not to worry about being an activist. Let the rest of us worry about that. He should go out there and worry about X's and O's, and we will worry about LGBTQ rights.

That much of America’s attention these days is focused here on Russia, with its disgraceful anti-LGBT laws, is telling. Because it shifts our focus away from home. Immediately after the announcement, there were the expected reactions -- widespread and heartfelt praise for Sam’s courage and the more limited gay slurs and dismissals mostly hidden behind anonymity and Twitter handles. But, like with Jackie Robinson, the battle is not waged on the high or low ground of the extremes. It is waged in the center. And in the center you can see that the Michael Sam story -- and the story of how we see gay people in 2014 -- is extremely complicated.

But he is still a tweener: too small for defensive end and too inexperienced for outside linebacker. The obstacles facing the NFL's first openly gay player are difficult to anticipate. But we know the obstacles that face tweeners in this league. Life is hard for tweeners, unless they have 4.5 speed or the agility of a samurai (Sam has neither), regardless of their personal lives.